Matt Taggart: Alas for Tynwald day, on the flat Cav is king again, but there's a 25m ascent in the last 500m, Sagan for his 2nd of 2016 today

Jack Peyton: The Manx Missile is going to blow this race to pieces. Unstoppable in this form.

Terry Urbanczyk: I picked Cav in my Velogames team to get my credit down. Lesson: never ever write off the Manx Missile. He's doing me proud

The four breakaway riders of Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo), Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling) and Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon18) have snaffled a five-and-a-half-minute lead now, as we near the halfway stage.

So, before we get into the nitty gritty, let's take a glace at how the main GC contenders are faring.

Going into today's stage, Chris Froome is level with rivals Nairo Quintana, Fabio Aru, Tejay van Garderen, Daniel Martin. Pierre Rolland and Romain Bardet on +14 seconds.

Thibaut Pinot is 11 seconds further back, while Alberto Contador is on +1min 2secs.

With plenty of time before the action hots up today, you can listen to last night's BBC Radio 5 live BeSpoke podcast for analysis of stage three.

18nalax: I like to pretend I'm Cav when I'm out riding. I slam into other cyclists and claim innocence afterwards. 

Wait, that's not the sort of thing I was anticipating...

Very little movement in that gap between the peloton and the breakaway, which consists of Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo), Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling) and Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon18).

The time difference has hovered around five minutes for a while now.

Bored of chatting about Mark Cavendish?

Nah, me neither.

I'm hereby encouraging you to flood the #bbccycling hashtag with your tribute to the Manx Missile.

Can we put him in the legend category?

Have you ever pretended you're Cav when out on a ride?

Can we take his tally to 29 stage wins today?

Let's hear from you.

As reader Robin says below, today is the national day of the Isle of Man.

If only there was a Manx rider in the field who is in red-hot form and a dab hand at sprint finishes...

As the peloton ploughs into Chatellerault, there's a nice moment for Direct Energie's Sylvain Chavanel in his hometown.

The 37-year-old is allowed to take to the front of the peloton to receive a homecoming welcome.

Image source, AFP

So, as we know, Mark Cavendish is joint second on the all-time list of most of stage wins with 28.

But there's an extra element that makes his achievement even more of a belter.

Eddy Merckx, the out-right leader at the top of the list, won only 17 of his 34 stages in a mass start (non-time trial).

And Bernard Hinault (pictured hung on a washing line), who is joint-second with Cav, won only seven of his 28 in a mass start.

All Cav's 28 wins have been in mass starts.

It's a great reflection on his career, but also tells you a bit about how the Tour has changed over the decades.

OJ Borg
BBC Radio 5 live presenter in France

Image source, BBC Sport

Meet the speciality apple from the Limoges region. In 1994 it was given an L'appellation d'origine controlle - means it can only be named the Pomme Du Limousin if it's grown here.

It's very tasty. I can confirm this and the four I've just bagged from reception saves me buying lunch.

You'll be able to listen to the BBC Radio 5 live commentary team from 15:00 BST on this page.

Image source, Getty Images

Let's dwell on Mark Cavendish's stage win some more, by listing the Tour's all-time stage winners.

It also means I get to rummage through some picture archives and swim in nostalgia. Above is Eddy Merckx in the 1970 Tour.

Here are the top five all-time stage winners:

Eddy Merckx - 34

Mark Cavendish - 28

Bernard Hinault - 28

Andre Leducq - 25

Andre Darrigade - 22

It's the longest stage of this year's event today - distance wise.

And if the peloton clips along at yesterday's sluggish pace, it will be the longest time-wise too.

They're heading south across 237.5km of pretty flat-flatland from Saumur to Limoges and are currently bearing down on the commune of Chatellerault.

The stage schedule suggests a 16:00 BST finish if they go like the clappers.

It's actually been a reasonably lively morning.

The quartet of Oliver Naesen (IAM Cycling), Alexis Gougerard (AG2R-La Mondiale), Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo) and Andreas Schillinger (Bora-Argon18) have made a few attempts to get away from the peloton, and they finally threw off the shackles.

With 190km to go, they've picked up a five-minute gap. Everyone else is safely in the peloton.

Much like the peloton yesterday, we'll take it easy to begin with today. There's plenty to talk about, but first, an update on how today's stage is panning out.

Image source, Getty Images

Write him off at your peril.

Few tipped Mark Cavendish to win the first stage of this year's Tour de France.

But after he donned the yellow for 24 hours, a few opinions were shifted in the Manxman's favour.

Yesterday was vintage Cav - the timing, the power and, of course, the drama to boot.

The 31-year-old is now joint-second on the all-time stage-win list with Bernard Hinault on 28 and has six fewer than the legendary Eddy Merckx.

Can we file him away in the legend category yet?